INCUBATION AND BROODING 



fully littered with chaff, mow sweepings, cut clover or other 

 similar materials. Look the hen over occasionally for lice, and 

 be sure that there are no lice on the little chicks. Examine 

 a few of them once a week looking them over carefully, parti- 

 cularly their heads; however, if a first-class insect powder is used 

 there will usually be very little trouble from lice. If the small 

 chicks get very lousy it will be necessary to go over them care- 

 fully and -pick off the lice. Pure Dalmatian or Persian insect 

 powder, though expensive, is probably the best remedy for Uce 

 powder and cheapest in the end, and it is not injurious to either 

 fowls or chicks. 



The hen will usually attend to weaning the small chicks as 

 soon as they are fairly well fledged, and will usually teach them 

 to eat cracked corn and wheat by the time they are ten days to 

 two weeks old so that the chick food can be fed less and less, 

 and gradually replaced by cracked corn and wheat. 



When the chicks are weaned give them a liberal range on 

 grass land, place them in colony coops of comfortable size, ' 

 twenty-five to fifty in a flock, and give them a hopper of cracked 

 corn, beef scrap, charcoal, grit and see that they have plenty 

 of pure water. They can then usually be trusted to take care 

 of themselves, if provided with shelter from storm and sun and 

 given liberal range. 



HATCHING WITH INCUBATORS 



One of the most important things for the beginner to learn 

 in incubator operation is to carefully read and follow the manu- 

 facturer's directions. Probably the most satisfactory place to 

 run an incubator is in a well ventilated cellar or half cellar where 

 a fairly uniform temperature can be maintained. Incubators 

 do their best in a place where the temperature seldom goes 

 below 45 or 40 degrees or above 60 to 70 degrees. The room 

 or cellar must be well ventilated since the lamp consumes a 

 considerable amount of the oxygen and the incubator is abso- 

 lutely dependent upon the air in the room in which it is operated 

 for its supply of pure fresh air to the interior of the egg chamber. 



Set the machine up carefully, see that it is running in 

 good shape and the regulating device properly adjusted to 

 hold the temperature at the desired degree, which is usually 

 102J until the first test and 103 thereafter until the chicks be- 

 gin to hatch, when it may run to 104 or even 105. 



Select your eggs for hatching as carefully as if you were 

 intending to place them under hens. Do not fill the incubator 

 beyond its capacity. Never practice "doubling up" or piling 

 the eggs one on top of the other, Place the eggs in the machine 

 and let them alone until the morning of the third day when 

 they should be taken out for their first turning; thereafter turn 

 twice a day until the evening of the 18th day, when the machine 

 should be closed and let alone until the eggs have hatched. 

 As a rule it is not -wise to supply too much Ventilation, and 

 generally it is best not to cool or air the eggs where the trays 

 have to be taken from the machine for turning. Where the 

 machines have mechanical devices by which the eggs are turned 

 without removing them from the machine the eggs should be 

 cooled for a few minutes each day, but much better results 

 will be had if the trays are always removed from the machine 

 and the eggs turned by hand, removing the eggs from the center 

 of the tray rolling the others inward, and placing the eggs that 

 were taken out in the places now left vacant at the ends of 

 the tray. The reason for this is that no machine heated by lamp 

 or hot water heats' eyenly in all parts, and by changing tha 

 position of the eggs at each turning all are given an equal chance 

 and any inequalities in the temperature of the egg chamber 

 are thus offset. 



Learn to let the machine alone at hatching time as it is 

 now too late to remedy any mistakes which you have made 

 during the hatch, and the machine will do better if not inter- 



fered with. Opening the incubator door while the hatch is 

 going on allows moisture to escape and may injure the balance 

 of the eggs. 



On the 21st day when the chicks are all out remove the 

 egg trays and all shells and dead eggs to give the chicks plenty 

 of head room. Open all ventilators wide and leave the door of 

 the egg chamber open a crack just the width of a match. Then 

 darken the machine by hanging a piece of dark paper in front 

 of the glass door, and let the chicks alone until the next day. 

 For the first 24 hours after the little chicks have hatched they 

 need rest and quiet, and should not be disturbed. If they are 

 kept dark, have plenty of fresh air and are comfortably warm, 

 they will be better off for this day's rest and there will be less 

 difficulty in rearing them, as they will make much bettter pro- 

 gress in the absorption of the egg yolk which they have brought 

 with them into the world. Rest, warmth and pure air are all 

 that the little chicks need for the first 24 hours. 



On the afternoon of the 22nd day they should be taken 

 to the brooder for their first feed. 



THE BROODER 



I like best the so-called three-apartment brooder, one 

 which has a front or exercise apartment and a rear or brooding 

 apartment, which is again divided into the space under the 

 hover and, the space outside of it. In such a brooder either 

 outdoor or indoor pattern, it is possible to raise chicks with com- 

 paratively little trouble. Have the brooder warmed up and , 

 waiting for the chicks. It is best to run it two or three days 

 before the chicks are put into it to make sure that everything ' 

 is in good working order. Scatter over the floor of the brooding 

 chamber a good half-inch bed of thick clover or mow sweepings 

 and sprinkle freely with chick-size grit, chick-size charcoal and 

 a good dry chick food. Put small-sized galvanized drinking 

 fount in one corner of the brooding chamber and have it filled 

 with pure fresh water. 



See that the hover space is at 95 degrees with the hover 

 empty. When you place the chicks in the brooder remove the 

 hover and give them all a chance to pick at the chick food in , 

 the UJter. Sprinkle a little in front of them to attract their, 

 attention. If convenient when they are put in give each a little 

 drink by dipping its bill in the water. In about five or ten' 

 minutes put on the hover and tuck the chicks carefuUy under, 

 it. Raise one of the hover tabs so that they wiU have a door- 

 way in and out that they can see plainly. This hover tab of 

 felt is to be lowered again after the chicks learn to go in and out. 



Visit the chicks again in an hour or two to see that they 

 are all right. Take off the hover and give them all another 

 opportunity to feed for five or ten minutes, then put on the hover 

 and tuck them in again and close the brooder for the night. 

 Do not be alarmed if the temperature has nm up to 100 degrees 

 in warm weather or 105 or 110 degrees if the temperature out- 

 side the brooder is below freezing. You must be guided more 

 by the comfort of the chicks than by the temperature as indi- 

 cated by the thermometer. In cold weather, particularly when 

 running a brooder outdoors, the chicks need more heat than 

 they do in warm weather. Visit the brooder again just after 

 dark and again at bedtime to be sure that the chicks are all 

 right and that none of them are huddling outside the hover. 

 If they appear comfortable and are ranged around the outside 

 of the hover with heads peeping from beneath the felts they 

 are all right, and no attempt should be made to lower the heat, 

 as the brooder will in all probability cool off a Uttle during the 

 night. 



Keep them confined to the brooding chamber for three 

 days to make sure that they have learned that under the hover 

 is the place to get warm. Keep charcoal, beef scrap, granu- 

 lated bone grit and pure water always before them, and a littl& 



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